Links of Interest

Who is John Towery?

UPDATE: FEB 28, 2014
Please check out the lawsuit against Towery et al. They are taking this fight to the court and need donations + support. They have set up a website where you can learn more and donate via PayPal. There is a press release and you can read the complaint here. A document showing how this spying resulted in an activist being labeled as a "domestic terrorist" is available here.

UPDATE: FEB 25, 2014
An incredible Democracy Now! segment was released this week on how Towery tried to give activists guns, teach them how to "clear buildings with firearms" and build a nation-wide intelligence network for sharing information on activists.

UPDATE: JAN 23, 2010
New documents have been released providing intricate detail on much of Towery's spying. You can grab a copy from our site here (part two is here).
In these records are intra-agency memos and hand-written notes
detailing the most personal details of the lives of those who fell prey
to illegal spying and government surveillance.

Help keep us online, donate BitCoin to 1NfGBfDNtwkja7uGFyGWBiutpc9QdpzqbV

John
Towery is a professional informant who works for the US Army. He works
on Fort Lewis, WA in ‘force protection’. Between September 2007 and
July 2009, using the alias “John Jacob (agent_orange@riseup.net)”, he
illegally infiltrated various anti-war and “anarchist” groups around
the Olympia and Tacoma (WA) area including Port Militarization
Resistance and Students for a Democratic Society. He also worked
closely with the Smash ICE Campaign and Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Much of his time was spent befriending anarchists or those whose views
had anarchist characteristics. People who knew John Jacob described him
as kind, generous, and friendly. He came to meetings and quickly became
a trusted individual, leading to him becoming the administrator of the
PMR mailing list which gave him access to the name and email address of
almost every person in the organization. The information he collected
was given to and used by various government bodies including The US
Army, The Olympia Police Department, the Tacoma Police Department, The
Federal Bureau of Investigation, The Washington State Patrol, and the
Washington Joint Analytical Center. After his outing, he admitted to
spying on these groups and passing on information to these agencies.
This information collection on US citizens and groups engaged in 1st
Amendment protected activities was clearly illegal under a number of
statues and violated the rights and civil liberties of those involved.

This story has made it far and there’s a lot of coverage. Some of
the best coverage so far came from the first media outlet to break the
story: Democracy Now!. The first episode dedicated to this event is
available at http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/28/stream

They also did a second episode with Christopher Pyle, the
whistleblower who sparked the Church hearings available at
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/29/pyle

Wikileaks significantly
contributed to open discussion about this incident by helping to leak
source documents describing military spying activity. Some of these
documents were available months before John Towery was outed. And of
course, this story would have been heard anywhere had some hard-working
activists in Olympia not looked into who “John Jacob” really was.

Public records show that John Towery sent “Force Protection
Intelligence Updates” (at the bottom of this page) to various agencies
including the US Army, The Olympia Police Department, and the Tacoma
Police Department. John’s home address was surveilled and it was
established that John Towery lives there. He was identified as being
the same John that infiltrated the various groups stated above.
Furthermore, the license plate on his bike which had been seen by
various activists matches those found in the “Iron Butt Motorcycle
Rider’s Association” membership list
under the name John Towery. After the outing, he admitted in person to
several individuals that he indeed was passing information on to the US
Army, the FBI, the Washington Joint Analytical Center, Washington State
Patrol, and various state agencies. His behavior and the information he
gained is typical of an infiltrator, such as trying to become an
administrator on the PMR listserv (and succeeding).

Why was this spying illegal?

Under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, it is illegal for the US Army
or other military forces to collect information on US Civillians.
Furthermore, had John worked for another agency, such as the Olympia
Police Department or the FBI it would have been illegal to do what he
had done. Groups such as Students for a Democratic Society and Olympia
Port Militarization Resistance are engaged in 1st Amendment protected
activity and various state and federal laws including the constitution
prevent surveillance and disruption of such groups. Furthermore, since
various agencies acted on information that they should have reasonably
known were obtained illegally, they were also in violation of the law.

Is John Towery still involved in these groups?

No, he has been kicked out of these groups and removed from their mailing lists.

Are additional pictures available of John Towery?

Yes,. there is a picture of him on his bike (including his plate number for verification) at

http://portland.indymedia.org/media/images/2009/07/392922.jpg

A higher resolution picture of him is available at http://portland.indymedia.org/media/images/2009/07/392921.jpg

If I have information on John Towery that is not known to the public what should I do?

You should see our about us page to get in touch with us.

What have groups such as Port Militarization Resistance done in response to these revelations?

They have publicly outed information about this individual and continued their important anti-war and social justice work.